March 2026

The Trillium: 2026 Coverage of End The Wait Ontario

Ontario's Queen's Park press gallery covered the OAP crisis twice in March 2026.

In short

  • The Trillium is the press gallery publication serving Ontario's legislature at Queen's Park
  • March 25: Spencer Carroll's advocacy platform covered for bringing transparency to 87,000+ on the OAP waitlist
Show all 4 facts
  • March 27: OAC demands $186M budget increase go exclusively to core clinical services
  • End The Wait Ontario was cited in both stories as a source of data-driven accountability
Verified: 2026-08-10
Scope: Ontario, Canada

The crisis the coverage documented

Ontario's autism waitlist in the numbers that drove the coverage.

Registered

91,974

Children registered

Total in the Ontario Autism Program queue

MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026

Funded

20,711

Have active funding

Only 22.5% of registered children

MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026

Waiting

71,263

Still waiting

Registered. Diagnosed. Un-funded.

MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026

Verified , MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026

Share these numbers
Ontario Autism Program key statistics (MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026, verified 2026-08-10)
MetricValue
Children registered91,974
Have active funding20,711
Still waiting71,263

Both Stories from The Trillium

·Reporter: Sneh Duggal·The Trillium

Ottawa dad boosts 'accountability' with autism waitlist website

The Trillium introduces End The Wait Ontario and founder Spencer Carroll, who built a public data platform to track Ontario's autism waitlist and hold government accountable for the 87,000+ children still waiting.

Read coverage
·Reporter: Sneh Duggal·The Trillium

Advocacy group calls for new autism program funding to go 'exclusively' to core therapies

The Ontario Autism Coalition demands the $186M budget increase go exclusively to core clinical services. Spencer Carroll calls for independent audit authority over how public autism funds are spent.

Read coverage

Take Action

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Related Resources

Citable source facts(3)Question-and-answer pairs with their source and verification link.

How many children are on the Ontario autism waitlist?

Verified

Latest FOI data shows 91,974 children are registered in the Ontario Autism Program (May 2026), while only 22.5% have active funding agreements. [FOI] An active funding agreement does not mean a child is receiving services; it is an administrative status distinct from service delivery. The Ontario Autism Coalition reported in July 2026 that some families in its community had waited more than five years. That report is not a province-wide average. Last verified: 2026-08-10

Source: Financial Accountability Office of Ontario [FAO] & FOI Data · Verify Link

What makes End The Wait Ontario different from other autism resources?

Verified

End The Wait Ontario analyzes Ontario's autism waitlist crisis using verified program data from Freedom of Information requests filed by the Ontario Autism Coalition (Dec 2025) and CBC News (Jan 2026), and the FAO. [FOI] Because this platform aggregates ministry and watchdog figures in one place, parents and advocates can monitor the crisis in real time and hold decision‑makers accountable. Last verified: 2026-08-10

Source: Financial Accountability Office of Ontario [FAO] & FOI Data · Verify Link

What did CBC News find about the Ontario autism waitlist in 2026?

Verified

CBC News reviewed 18 months of bi-weekly OAP progress reports obtained via FOI (Jun 2024 – Jan 2026). The latest verified figures show 91,974 children registered as of May 2026 with only 20,711 receiving funding — still under 25%. Registrations jumped 21% since mid-2024. In some periods, funded children decreased while hundreds more registered.

Source: CBC News Investigation, Mar 30, 2026 · Verify Link

About This Article

Written by

Founder & Autism Advocate

Parent of autistic child navigating OAP system

Evidence on this page

The source chain stays visible.

Key claims are paired with their source, evidence tier, and verification date so readers can inspect the public record directly.

Facts4
Sources3

22.5%

Only 20,711 children have active funding agreements (22.5%), less than one in four

Government / peer-reviewedMCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026Verified 2026-08-10

OAP registrations jumped 21% since mid-2024, with the number of funded children dipping in some periods despite hundreds more registering

Secondary sourceNicole Brockbank & Angelina King (2026)Verified 2026-03-30
Last system verification: 2026-08-10. Next scheduled update: 2026-11-05.
View methodologyBrowse every source